


a fast life and a slow cuttin' knife

by notthebigspoon



Series: Dirty Hands [2]
Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-03
Updated: 2012-11-03
Packaged: 2017-11-17 15:25:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/553059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthebigspoon/pseuds/notthebigspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Technically, they shouldn't all three be traveling together, him and George and Ryan. But George is his right hand man, Javi never goes anywhere without him, and Ryan... well, Javi will be honest, he doesn't know what that is. Any assassin could do this job. He was ready to pick up someone else anyway, had been ready to make the call that night when his security had informed him over the radio that Drew Sparrow was there to see him.</p><p>Title taken from Bullet In My Hand by Redlight King.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a fast life and a slow cuttin' knife

Javier wants Gavin Lutz dead. He isn't, no, but a lot of other people are. 

Technically, they shouldn't all three be traveling together, him and George and Ryan. But George is his right hand man, Javi never goes anywhere without him, and Ryan... well, Javi will be honest, he doesn't know what that is. Any assassin could do this job. He was ready to pick up someone else anyway, had been ready to make the call that night when his security had informed him over the radio that Drew Sparrow was there to see him.

He'd never been so shocked in his life as he was when Ryan Vogelsong had come out of the elevator. Somehow, sealing the agreement with sex had seemed natural. The fact that Vogelsong had remained in his bed almost ever since hasn't felt all that out of the ordinary either. Vogey runs through burn phones like they're water, holding a different one seemingly every time Javi looks at him. He disappears at odd hours, coming back without a single hair out of place and yet Javi knows he's been taking care of business.

The chatter that defines their line of business is buzzing. After so long of being off the radar, Drew Sparrow has burst back in full force, all the signs and trappings of his work popping up everywhere in some very noticeable ways. Also noticeable is the way it overlaps with El Gato's activity. It satisfies Javi to find that some people are growing scared shitless, wondering just what kind of trouble they're in with two of the best in the business working together.

The thing is, though, they're not actually working together. Javi is taking care of his own business but he doesn't know what Ryan is doing. It's almost like Ryan is just along for the ride, when he should really be out hunting down Lutz and doing what Javi is paying him to do. He's received half his money, he'll receive the other half when Lutz is dead. It makes no sense to Javi that the job isn't done yet. Anyone else, either he or George would beat them for not doing their job and get his money back. But Javi wants to keep Ryan, wants him around. He says nothing.

When he finds out just what's going on, Javi is angry with himself because he has a better reputation than that. El Gato never misses anything, El Gato has a point and a purpose for everyone and everything within his self built organization. Nothing happens without passing onto his radar. Javi prides himself on this, on knowing that he runs things so perfectly and controls his world so absolutely. And yet he's been missing something so blindly.

They've set up shop in a bland and uninspired building in Dallas, sleeping on one floor and working on the floor below it. Javi has turned in early one night, tired and knowing there's nothing more that he needs to take care of that day. George has wandered off in search of trouble. Ryan's been gone since the night before and while Javi doesn't care to be sleeping alone, not when he's gotten used to sharing the space, he's not in such a point yet that he's going to go find out where Ryan is. They're not together, this isn't personal. It's business.

The line between business and personal, between their aliases and themselves, has been going increasingly blurry until Javi doesn't know where one stops and the other begins. Everything's meshing and that's dangerous. Javier Lopez and Ryan Vogelsong are baseball players and world series champions. El Gato and Drew Sparrow are criminals and killers. Separate lives and separate worlds. The bleed through should scare him.

He wakes up to the sound of screaming, faint and coming through the vents. He doesn't worry that someone else can hear or will come looking. The neighborhood isn't great and the building itself is empty except for where they're occupying it. He climbs out of bed, grabs a shirt and tugs it over his head before making his way to the elevator bank and taking it to the floor below. The volume rises sharply when the doors ping open. Javi follows the faint light he can see spilling out of a door at the end of the hallway, the screaming growing louder with every step.

There's a guy strapped to a chair, one that they'd met with the day before. There had been something about him that George hadn't liked and Javi had trusted the instinct. Ryan had disappeared shortly after, disappearing without a word like he always does. Now Javi knows what Ryan's been looking for. It's a testament to just how good Drew Sparrow is that it's not until now that Javi has figured out why so many flunkies that he's dealt with have simply dropped out of the picture without becoming a problem. Drew Sparrow has been taking care of El Gato, protecting him. No... no, Ryan has been taking care of Javi.

It sends a spark of sensation through Javi's body, an awareness that the game and the rules have changed.

“You're lying to me.” Ryan's voice is quiet, observant with a tinge of anger staining his voice, just like when Bochy will pull him from a game. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

He doesn't get an answer. The man is panting and sobbing, the chair legs of the chair clacking and banging against the floor. Ryan sighs, completely put upon like the man's lack of cooperation is ruining his day. It makes Javi snort and then laugh, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall. Ryan stops and straightens up, turning to the side and glancing at Javi. He's wearing latex gloves that are splattered with blood. There's a bloody razor lying on a table next to a gun and there's a pair of pliers in his hand. Javi takes it in, noting teeth scattered around the floor, the bloody slashes across the man's skin and his lack of fingernails.

Ryan watches Javi without much emotion before approaching and planting a hand against the wall next to Javi's head, leaning in for a hard kiss. He pulls back, straightening up and glancing back at the man, swiping his forearm against his head. “I followed him, to see if he would be a problem. He was.”

“Do you follow all of them?” Javi asks, though he already knows the answer. Ryan shrugs in response and that's when Javi knows that the line in the sand is gone. There's no longer a distinction between them, between their identities. They're no longer business partners. No longer just the boss and the contracted employee. They're more to each other than that. Ryan wants to take care of Javi, protect him. It's a ridiculous turn on.

“Separate, we are dangerous. Together, we're courting trouble. I'm taking care of us.” Ryan answers. There's no hint of defiance, just a simple statement of fact.

“So there's an us now.”

Ryan just laughs, shakes his head and kisses Javi again. “You knew the first time we slept together that there wasn't anywhere else that this would end up. We've been heading this way from the start.”

Javi can't really argue the fact. Maybe he didn't see it before but he definitely sees it now. He watches Ryan return to the man, watches him drop the pliers. He wonders what Ryan is going to go for next, wonders how he'll make the man suffer. He quietly notes to Ryan that the man isn't going to tell them anything, he can't, he's not important enough to know anything. Ryan shrugs and nods, picking up the gun and shooting the man square in the forehead. The skin, bone and flesh that splatters across the plastic sheet tacked to the wall makes Javi wrinkle his nose in disgust. He hates the messiness in their line of work.

Another thing to be thankful he has Ryan for, because Ryan dumps the body off the chair, pulls the plastic down and wraps the man up. It's quick and brisk, speaking of practice and experience. Ryan hefts the body onto a trolley, cleans his supplies with bleach and wraps everything else up in a garbage bag that he sets on top of the body. He moves to the elevator bank, calls over his shoulder and tells Javi to not wait up.

Javi looks to the space where just a few minutes ago, he'd witnessed Ryan Vogelsong torture a man for information and then murder that man when information was not forthcoming. Now, there's no sign that anything had ever happened there, just an empty room with a chair and a small table with a toolbox on it. It makes Javi smile. He flips the light off and makes his way back to the elevators in the dark, pushing the up button. He returns to the office he's using as a bedroom.

It's simple, spartan. A massive king size mattress is in the floor, bedding slightly mussed after Javi had gotten out of bed earlier. There's milk crates serving as end tables. Javi stretches out in the bed, folding his hands behind his head. He, El Gato, has a reputation for being ostentatious. Wanting everything to be bright and shiny and flashy, wanting to be noticed. The image he cultivates serves him well but the reality he lives serves him even better. He flies under the radar, goes unnoticed, hides just as well as Drew Sparrow ever did, directing others and keeping his own hands clean.

Ryan had said not to wait up but Javi can't help waiting. He curls up and rests his head on the pillow, stares at Ryan's side of the bed. It's been hours when Ryan finally returns. He's scrubbed clean, wearing different clothing and he probably dumped the truck he's been using while they're in Texas. Javi didn't expect anything different. Drew Sparrow always covers his own ass, and now he's covering El Gato's as well.

“I told you not to wait up.” Ryan says, his tone irritated but a smile gracing his face. He strips his shirt off, sits on the edge of the mattress to take his boots off, kicking his jeans away as well. He slides under the blankets, stretches out and releases a pleased groan, rubbing at one of his shoulders. “God, that bastard might have thrown my shoulder out. Stop dealing with fat sycophants, throw me a skinny guy once in a while, yeah?”

“I'm sorry. I will start screening my sources for fitness and attractiveness before you dispose of them for not being useful.” Javi answers dryly.

Ryan just yawns and laughs, reaching out and blindly patting Javi's chest. “Thanks. 'Preciate it. G'night.”

Just like that, he's out. Javi envies that about him, that he can sleep anywhere at any time. Then again, he can wake just as easily. He sleeps with a knife under his pillow and a gun next to his bed, always prepared to deal with someone with aspirations to damage his calm and destroy his carefully constructed world. Their teammates have talked about Ryan's anger issues before, discussed finding him an outlet for it. He's calmest and happiest when he works, be it baseball or this.

Javi rolls onto his side, presses up against Ryan's back and wraps an arm around his waist. Ryan doesn't stir, a testament to their relationship and the amount of trust he places in Javi, that Javi can do this without Ryan reaching for his knife like he had the time that George had touched his shoulder to wake him up. George still hasn't forgiven him for that. Javi smiles at the thought and kisses Ryan's hair, closing his eyes and getting comfortable.

They've got work to do in the morning.


End file.
